Whole Foods 2015 Weekender Bag Review

The Whole Foods 2015 Weekender Bag is a curated collection of airplane-friendly essentials selected from offerings available in Whole Foods Market stores. This was a one-time purchase, but they did a beauty bag in March and a summer living bag in June, so I hope it will become a regular thing. (It seems like they are testing product types and price points right now.)

My Subscription Addiction paid for this bag. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Box: Whole Foods Weekender Bag

The Cost: $7

The Products: Travel sizes of essential beauty and personal care items.

Ships to: In-store only purchase at US Whole Foods Market locations starting at 10 AM on August 12, 2015. While supplies last.

Check out the Beauty Subscription Box Directory for more great natural beauty deals!

The bag came with an information card listing the items from the bag.

ChicoBag Travel Zip – Value $3.33

This bag has a tag that says “TSA Approved.” One side is see-through. I’ve shown it next to a quart-sized zip-top plastic storage bag for size comparison purposes. All the bags I saw in the store were this same green color on the other side. It should definitely last longer than the disposable plastic bags a lot of people use (which is ChicoBag’s mission).

Acure Repairing Shampoo (1 oz) – Value $1.25

Acure Repairing Conditioner (1 oz) – Value $1.25

I have become a fan of Acure products thanks to subscription boxes. (If you want to try some other Acure products, the Glamorganic Goddess Beauty Kit is still available.) I haven’t opened these yet because I am going to take Whole Foods’s suggestion and actually use them for travel (I have a wedding to go to out of state in early October). These are good for normal to dry/damaged/curly hair according to Acure, so they should be perfect for me.

Alaffia Authentic African Black Soap (2 oz) – Value $0.87

Juice Beauty Nutrient Moisturizer (0.5 oz) – Value $9

This African Black Soap can be used as a face wash, a body wash, and more. Great multipurpose item for travel, especially if you want to pack light. I am not getting “tangerine citrus” from the scent, but I do find it pleasant enough.

I have had mixed success with Juice Beauty moisturizers in the past, but so far this one seems like it is working for me (have only used it at night, and only once, though, so my assessment may be a little premature at this point).

Tom’s of Maine Simply White Toothpaste (0.9 oz) – Value $0.96

Mineral Fusion Mini Nail Polish in Blushing Crystal (0.25 oz) – Value $6.66

Sadly, the toothpaste contains sodium lauryl sulfate. While I theoretically don’t have any objections to this ingredient, in practice, SLS in toothpaste gives me canker sores. So I will be handing this over to my fiancé to use either when traveling or when he runs out of his regular toothpaste. I do like that it is whitening but doesn’t contain any synthetic bleaching chemicals!

If any of you read the MSA forums or the comments here, you know my feelings about pale pink nail polish. (This was the only shade offered – it’s printed on the information card so I don’t expect any variation.) You’ll see a swatch below. It dried pretty quickly although I’ve read that it takes quite a few coats to become opaque. (Try putting it on over a base layer of white to cut down on the number of coats.) Although this may not be my favorite color, I appreciate the chance to try a new brand. And the formula is vegan and 4-free! Also, the full size is only 0.3 oz so this mini is pretty close.

This is the back of the information card, listing all the ingredients in the personal care products. That is a nice touch that I wish more subscription boxes would start doing – so often, you don’t get the full ingredients list on sample containers.

In the lower left corner is a swatch of the polish.

The bag also came with a couple of in-store coupons. I am not counting these towards the overall value because I don’t know the prices of these items at Whole Foods stores. My guess is that you would almost certainly have to pay some additional money to use the coupons.

Verdict: The 2015 Whole Foods Weekender Bag had an overall value of about $23.32 if you count the samples (but not the values of the coupons). That’s outstanding for the $7 cost, although it doesn’t deliver on the promised $40 value. (The $40 value probably includes the coupons. I got the prices per ounce from the manufacturers’ websites.) I thought the curation was excellent – nearly all the items are the sorts of things that I would immediately think of to put in a travel bag, and the sizes are TSA-friendly, even if some of them didn’t quite match my personal taste.

One more thing to mention – these are all products currently available at Whole Foods. All still being made by the manufacturers. I don’t know if these are still available. When I showed up at noon, my usual store had a few out on a table near the other beauty products. I’d expect them to be there through the weekend, at least.

What did you think of the Whole Foods Weekender Bag? Were you able to get one?